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Tuesday, 25 November 2014

UNIVERSITIES HIDING BILLIONS COLLECTED FOM STUDENTS

Treasury
secretary Henry Rotich has accused public universities of failing to declare
the billions of internally generated cash.

The
Quarterly Economic and Budgetary Review covering the quarter to September shows
that collections of ministerial Appropriations-in-Aid (AIA) or internally
generated funds recorded an under-performance of Sh9 billion.

“The
AIA underperformance reflects a persistent problem, especially in universities
collections, which is not adequately captured in the ministry’s expenditure
return,” said Mr Rotich in the budget review presented to Parliament last week.

The
AIA, which stood at Sh13.8 billion against a target of Sh22.9 billion, is built
from funds raised from fuel levy and revenues generated by public universities.

The
law requires State agencies and ministries to first deposit their internal
collections in the government’s main account before use.

The
indictment of the varsities comes in a period that has seen the institutions
raise billions of shillings from increased students intake, aided by a rising
number of self-sponsored students.

The
number of students enrolled in universities grew 34 per cent last year, buoyed
by the approval of new degree courses and the setting up of new universities.

Official
data shows the population of students in public universities has doubled over
the past four years to 276,349 learners last year, from 139,740 in 2010.

This
is set to add pressure on the government to create new jobs for the graduates
whose number stood at 55,000 in 2002.

The
high enrolment is also putting pressure on university facilities at a time the
institutions are struggling to raise cash to upgrade their units.

The
government is mulling increasing university fees to offer the institutions the
additional cash they need.